1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of allocating resources in a computing environment and, more particularly, to modeling and implementing a software configurable computing environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
To be successful, a business must have the ability to quickly deliver new application services for use throughout the business's infrastructure. The deployment of the application services can require a testing, a development, and a production environment. The establishment of each of these environments can involve a multitude of expensive computing hardware and software.
The provisioning of a computing environment refers to the supplying of assets needed to create the environment, such as a server, a CPU, floor space in a lab, or even an individual. In the case of the provisioning of a testing environment, for example, special testing teams typically create a customized test environment for troubleshooting a newly developed application service. The test environment is implemented by provisioning hardware and software components, performing a series of tests on the new application service, and documenting results.
However, existing software and hardware based tools used to provision computing environments are limited. For example, existing provisioning tools are ill-equipped to handle the challenges posed by complex systems, such as, being able to efficiently provision assets based on a multitude of hardware and software possibilities and combinations. Further, existing provisioning tools are unable to handle the scheduling and provisioning of non-hardware or non-software assets, such as, lab floor space or technical personnel needed in the operation of a specific test. Additionally, provisioning tools are typically specific to one type of environment; therefore, a company must provide separate, dedicated hardware and software to provision a development, testing, and production environment respectively.